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Easy Recipe for Cabbage and Blue Cheese Salad with Sunflower Seeds

If you're the kind of food-obsessed person who loves searching for recipes on food blogs, you may be surprised to hear that overwhelmingly the most popular category in my recipe archives is Easy South Beach Recipes. It seems lots of people love these low-glycemic recipes with only five main ingredients and simple preparation methods, and occasionally I'll get e-mail asking for "more easy recipes." When I made this salad and loved it, I realized I couldn't remember writing about sunflower seeds for Weekend Herb Blogging, so I decided I should share how I made this easy salad.

Sunflower seeds are the seeds of the giant sunflower, of course, although Wikipedia on sunflower seeds says it would be more botanically correct to call them sunflower kernels. In the U.S. they're commonly sold with or without the shells as a snack. I've been a huge fan of these salty kernels since the time I was old enough to spend my allowance on snack food, although now I mostly buy the shelled type and eat them sparingly in salads. They're considered one of the world's healthiest foods, containing significant amounts of vitamin E and B1, and fairly large amounts of manganese, magnesium, copper, tryptophan, selenium, phosphorus, B5, and folate. They're also rich in phytosterols, plant compounds believed to help reduce blood levels of cholesterol. In fact, sunflower seeds and pistachios are highest in phytosterols of all nuts commonly eaten as snacks. I'm sure that people from all over the world will be sending Weekend Herb Blogging entries to Ramona at The Houndstooth Gourmet this week, and I'm curious to see if sunflower seeds are eaten in other countries too. If you'd like to participate by writing about an herb, plant, vegetable, or flower, here are the rules for Weekend Herb Blogging, and where to send your entry. Now, keep reading to see how easy it is to make this delicious cabbage salad.

Cabbage and Blue Cheese Salad with Sunflower Seeds
(Makes 3-4 side dish servings, recipe created by Kalyn. All measurements can be adjusted to taste.)

If using fresh cabbage, thinly slice it with a mandoline or chef's knife. Put cabbage in plastic bowl. Sprinkle with celery seed, then stir in blue cheese dressing until the cabbage is well moistened. (Use more or less dressing depending on how wet you like your salads.) Arrange salad on individual serving plates and sprinkle sunflower seeds over each serving. Serve immediately.

For South Beach dieters, be sure to choose a dressing with less than 2 grams of sugar per serving. (The Litehouse Blue Cheese Dressing has only 1 gram of sugar, and I often mix it half-and-half with buttermilk to cut down on the fat.) This is a perfect salad for any phase of the South Beach Diet. Cabbage is a very low-glycemic vegetable, so it's perfect for any low-glycemic eating plan.

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24 comments:

I love sunflower seeds in salads but am interested you say they are sold commonly as a snack in the US - I am not sure I would say that in Australia - I don't recall eating them until I was cooking for myself and seeking vegetarian recipes. Thanks for the link to my salads too!

Johanna, every store in the U.S. sells them in small snack bags, both in the shell and without shells. They even come in flavors like salsa, hickory smoked, and spicy.

Mallika, I know that red cabbage can sometimes bleed in salads if there's too much vinegar or lemon juice, but I think it would work here. Let me know if you try it. (Personally I think the red cabbage would be even better but I haven't tried it.)

This is a great salad, and anything blue cheese has my name on it!By the way, in your links below your post, Christine Cooks should be Christine Cooks Vegetarian. She's a different Christine altogether. :)

Oh dear, this is what happens when I write these things after work when I'm tired. Thanks for Christine Cooks for letting me know I screwed up, and apologies to Christine Cooks Vegetarian. (Who knew there were two of them?)

I adore sunflower seeds! I try not to eat them too often, just because they're a total trigger food for me...once I start, I can't stop...but they are wonderful and so tasty. This recipe looks great, and I am right there with Mallika -- I'd love to try this with red cabbage to see how it works!

I love cabbage salads and this one looks great. I have to use sunflower seeds sparingly. Although they are grown here, no one eats them. Ha! I bring mine back from the states rather than toast the whole kernel and peel. PS - love the new banner!!!

Sunflower seeds are a different take than the typical walnuts! Will have to try the carrot salad. I am wondering if I could get sunflower seeds under the "no nut" radar at school for my kid's school lunch? She loves all seeds and nuts so much.

I'm not surprised at all that most people are looking for the easy stuff. This definitely looks worth trying. I have a recipe for a blue cheese cole slaw that probably has similar flavors. (and much more fat!)

Cabbage and sunflower seeds - what a great combo!I plan on making more cabbage salads this summer - this is a grat start....If only I can manage to get the sunflower seeds in the salad and not my mouth.....

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